(This story will be updated throughout the day.)

The US Supreme Court has declared the federal ban on sports betting to be unconstitutional, opening up the floodgates on a new American legal betting landscape.

On Monday, the Court released its hotly anticipated decision in the case of New Jersey vs. the four major pro sports leagues, the NCAA and the US Department of Justice. By a vote of 7-2, the Court reversed the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that struck down New Jersey’s plan to authorize legal wagering at Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks.

The Court’s decision (viewable in full here) declares that 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) violates the US Constitution’s 10th amendment, which prevents the federal government from ‘commandeering’ the authority of state governments. The Court said PASPA “unequivocally dictates what a state legislature may or may not do.”

The Japanese government will no longer restrict casino operators from offering poker games to their guests under the latest Integrated Resorts (IR) bill.

On Monday, The Mainichi reported that Japanese government made a 180-degree turn on its policy against poker after realizing that the game is one of the main attractions of many integrated resorts around the world.

According to the report, the government initially planned to bar casino operators from offering games where players compete directly with each other directly—such as poker, mahjong, and gambling on shogi—due to the difficulty of keeping them fair.

The lR bill currently states that casino operators may only offer games that guarantee fairness to their guests. The approved games for the integrated resorts, which will only be available on casino premises, are roulette, blackjack and Baccarat. But after observing casinos in Las Vegas and Macau, framers of Japan’s IR bill realized that they can also harness poker’s money-making potential.

Australia-facing online betting firms have found refuge in Victoria after most of the states in the land down under have agreed to impose a punitive 15 percent point-of-consumption tax.

The Guardian reported that Victoria, one of Australia’s two biggest betting states, has imposed softer betting tax for online bookies to the delight of many digital bookmakers.

Victoria State Treasurer Tim Pallas announced on Monday that online bookies in the state will have to pay an 8 percent point-of-consumption tax, lower than the 15 percent point-of-consumption tax of the states of South and Western Australia.

Like in Western Australia, Victoria’s point-of-consumption tax will take effect in January, according to the report. The new tax policy is also dependent on legislation passing the parliament. Pallas said Victoria expects to collect an estimated AUD30 million (US$22.65 million) a year from the new tax regime.

Weaker gross gaming revenues (GGR) has taken a toll on Philippine-listed casino operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.’s (TIGHI) net profit for the first quarter of 2018.

TIGHI, a joint venture between Genting Hong Kong Ltd. and Philippines’ Alliance Global Group, clocked a net profit of PHP444 million ($8.5 million) for the three months to March 31, down by 35.2 percent on the previous year period.

Gross revenues of TIGHI also tumbled by 13.74 percent to PHP5.46 billion ($104.24 million) during the first three months of the year, from PHP6.33 billion ($120.85 million) during the same period in 2017.

The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the three months ended March 31, 2018, was at P839.7 million ($16.03 million), down 40.87 percent compared to P1.42 billion ($27.10 million) for the same period last year.

MACAU, China – Aristocrat continues to strive to lead the gaming industry in creating combinations of innovative cabinets and games that really entertain. At G2E Asia 2018, Aristocrat’s stand will feature themed destination areas, specifically designed to showcase the company’s new games and cabinets, and allow attendees to interact with the products in a meaningful way.

“We are honored to welcome our valued customers and friends from Macau, across Asia Pacific and around the world to G2E Asia. Destination areas on the Aristocrat stand will help attendees experience all of the innovation we have put inside our games and cabinets, to help our customers give their patrons great gaming experiences every day,” said Aristocrat APAC Managing Director Chris Rowe.

Aristocrat’s stand design at G2E Asia invokes an actual casino floor, with dedicated areas including:

• 5 Dragons zone;

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try (and try) again. Mike Coombs, who goes by the moniker DarkKnight17 at the virtual poker tables, finally emerged a Global Poker (GP) tournament winner after being the runner-up at three previous events. The win came at GP’s Rattlesnake Open, where he took down the $10,000 NLHE tournament for $3,560 and points on the GP Championships Leaderboard.

The victory almost wasn’t. On a crucial hand, Coombs shoved all-in pre-flop with A-10, which was called by his opponent, “GILFhunter2369,” holding A-2.  A 2 on the board gave GILFhunter the advantage, and Coombs found himself down in chips 2 to 1. He wasn’t ready to give up, however, and fought back in the next several hands to finally take the victory.

Following his win, Coombs took to his blog to reveal that he did it—finally: “Not only did I finally ship a trophy event, but I finally had success in one of their bigger buy ins and the actual win was almost triple my previous high on Global. This also put my online bankroll north of $6k and gets me out of the $3-$3.5k range I seem to get stuck in before falling back down.”

Friday Frenzy: 15/30 LHE & Rattlesnake Trophy Hunting! (LIVE BLOG) https://t.co/QfxcVeUmWC pic.twitter.com/7UODl3jMYI

In 2015, Galaxy Entertainment struck a deal with the Société des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Étrangers à Monaco (SBM), to buy 5% of the casino firm out of Monaco. The $47-million deal was mutually beneficial, as it gave SBM a foot in the door to expand into the Asian market. That partnership could turn out to be highly lucrative, as the Galaxy-SMB alliance is more than likely going to try for one of the three casino licenses to be awarded by Japan.

In an interview with GGRAsia at the Japan Gaming Congress in Tokyo last week, SMB Managing Director Jean-Louis Masurel said, “We wanted to expand in Asia, and we decided it would be stupid to try and do it alone. It wouldn’t make sense if we had neither the human nor financial resources to do so. So that’s why we wanted to have a partner.”

Masurel added that there were similarities between Galaxy and Monaco that made choosing Galaxy an easy decision. Both casino companies were family controlled, although in the case of SBM it’s through the Monaco government by Prince Albert. Monaco is ruled by the House of Grimaldi, a royal family that has Italian roots from as early as the mid-1100s. The principality has been controlled by the Grimaldi family since, with Albert II of Monaco currently serving as its leader.

“We knew whatever we could do together [with Galaxy Entertainment] we could build it for the long term,” he explained. “It’s not a three-year or five-year agreement. When we signed the cooperative agreement, it’s for eight years, renewable for eight years and then for periods ad vitam.”

South Koreans don’t have a lot of domestic options when they want to gamble. The only casino available to them is the Kangwon Land casino resort, located about 93 miles south of Seoul. Despite being the only option, the casino didn’t fare too well during the first quarter of 2018, and its revenue dropped by 30.3% from the same period last year.

In a filing to the Korea Exchange, casino operator Kangwon Land Inc. reported net income of around $71.1 million for Q1 2018. Year-on-year sales were down 7.5%, with operating income dropping 22.4% to $118 million. It’s a trend that has continued throughout the past 12 months.

Brokerage firm JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd. announced last Friday that the continued decline represents “challenging business environments” for the casino. Kangwon Land has been the target of political pressure to temper its revenue growth. The fact that the casino exists at all is a constant source of controversy.

JP Morgan analysts Sean Zhuang and DS Kim said in their announcement, “Worse yet, the planned opening of a waterpark in July will most likely add cost pressures to second half and 2019 earnings.” According to the pair, Kangwon Land’s gross gaming revenue dropped by 8% year-on-year to $341 million. “VIP was particularly weak (-22 percent year-on-year to its four-year-lows), which Kangwon Land attributes to poor underlying demand,” the analysts said.

Tony G prepares to make an appearance in CoinPoker’s Crypto Series of Poker, and Virtue Poker prepares to reward early investors after raising more than $18m in Initial Coin Offering.  

I’m in the process of opening a BitPay account. It’s an exciting, albeit nervous move. Maybe I watch too much Mr Robot, but the thought of using fiat currency in the future seems as absurd to me, as talking to each other appears to Elon Musk.

If Musk’s Neuralink vision bears fruit – and we can tell our car to start using our mind, or tune into your mate’s thoughts and emotions as he bangs his wife – then why would we insert 30p into a turnstile to have a pee in London Paddington.

There was a time I made a decent living knocking my teeth out and leaving them for the tooth fairy. I wonder what the kids will do in the future when their net worth is wrapped up in BCH, ETH and BLAHBLAHH?

A glimpse into Day 1 of the Triton Poker Series’ first event of 2018, the HKD 125,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck tournament from Montenegro, bringing the likes of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan out of the woodwork. 

It’s the most delightful looking rainbow. Vivid colours, and a perfect arc. There is only one problem. The pot of gold surely rests here, and yet the beginning of this extraordinary moment of nature lies elsewhere.

I take a photo.

A raindrop falls on my keyboard. An errant ant runs in and takes a sip. It’s the last thing he will ever do. I think about my act of murder and how I will explain it to my daughter. Is there a difference between killing an ant or a dog? What about a fish? A whale?